Launching a Freelance Business

There is no doubt about it—freelancing is becoming a more popular choice for textile designers for many reasons. Textile designers who are successful and thrive in this unique work environment have a good work ethic and confidence that they can do amazing things for their clients as a freelancer. Trying to decide whether the freelance life is right for you, or ready to take the plunge? These free resources can help.

Do you have concerns when you think about a freelance lifestyle–perhaps worries about being able to pay the bills, or hesitation about if the freelance lifestyle is truly all you imagine it to be? These concerns are legitimate but there are some fairly simple ways to determine if your concerns are warning signs that it’s not a good move for you or if they are simply your protective barriers. In this post I discuss the six questions you should evaluate to see how they fit into your personality and approach to life. It’ll help you a great deal!

As a freelance designer Erin McMorris has worked with, sold or licensed her designs to Jo-Ann Stores, GapKids, The Children’s Place, Target, The Paper Magic Group, Paperchase, Macy’s, The Land of Nod, FreeSpirit Fabrics, KI Memories and Michael Miller Fabrics. In this post you will learn what a typical day looks like in her freelance business, her words of wisdom for designers considering a freelance career, and more!

Amy Ng is a freelance illustrator from Malaysia, who also runs the popular illustration blog, Pikaland. Seven years ago Amy left her full-time job as a magazine editor for a regional architecture and design magazine to launch her freelance business and she hasn’t looked back. I am thrilled to welcome her to Pattern Observer to share her inspiring story.

We are honored to have Jessica Stuart-Crump here to tell us about her thriving freelance business and what she has learned along the way. I met Jessica in our portfolio course and was extremely impressed by the professionalism of her work and her fantastic personality. If you are interested in launching or growing your freelance business this is a must read!

I am not a detail oriented person, so as you can assume my experiences with bookkeeping have been a wild ride. When I began freelancing I didn’t track my expenses (I know..I know..), which meant that I had to spend weeks scrambling to gather invoices and deductions before tax time. In this post I share how I recovered from that nightmare and the resources I used to start tracking expenses and sales.

The textile design industry is changing rapidly, just like most industries do. That’s what happens with time, growth, and in the spirit of progress. Budgets are tweaked to fit different business strategies, timelines have become tighter and with more being done via the internet the opportunities to travel and meet with clients are rarer. Even so, we still love and respect the industry, don’t we? We still feel passionate about design and want to deliver exceptional products. We want to feel like a hero—the one who gracefully gets it done for our clients, even if we have those “frazzled” moments that we all have on occasion. So, how do we make it happen? That’s the question that I explore in this post.

Most commercial artists or designers are not in it for the money. Let’s face it, there are other professions that can earn you a bigger payday and are less competitive. However, having a love for what we do does not mean that we shouldn’t aim to run the most profitable and efficient business possible. In this post I share five ways to be a more productive designer.